Scottish Executive

Access for Disabled People

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what entitlement people with myasthenia gravis have to use the blue badge or any similar parking scheme and what the reason is for the position on this matter.

Nicol Stephen: People who suffer from myasthenia gravis would be able to apply for a blue badge provided that they meet the eligibility criteria.

  The eligibility criteria are as follows:

  Receipt of the high rate of the mobility component of the Disability Living Allowance;

  Receipt of a War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement;

  Registered blind;

  A severe disability in both upper limbs, regularly drive a motor vehicle but cannot turn the steering wheel of a motor vehicle by hand even if that wheel is fitted with a turning knob, and

  A permanent and substantial disability which means you are unable to walk or have very considerable difficulty in walking. (In this case the local authority may ask some questions to help decide on eligibility).

Agriculture

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what grants are available for the establishment of farmers’ markets.

Ross Finnie: There are no grants available from the Scottish Executive for the establishment of farmers’ markets. However, the Executive do provide financial support to the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society (SAOS). That support allowed SAOS to assist with the establishment of the Scottish Association of Farmers’ Markets, and to provide secretarial and administrative support to the association.

Agriculture

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many farmers’ markets there are, broken down by local authority area.

Ross Finnie: At present we are aware of 53 farmers’ markets operating in Scotland. These are set out below, broken down into local authority area.

  

 Aberdeen City
 1


 Aberdeenshire
 6


 Angus
 1


 Argyll and Bute
 6


 City of Edinburgh
 2


 Dumfries and Galloway
 1


 Dundee City
 1


 East Ayrshire
 1


 East Dunbartonshire
 1


 East Lothian
 1


 East Renfrewshire
 2


 Eilean Siar, Comhairle Nan
 2


 Falkirk
 1


 Fife
 2


 Glasgow City
 1


 Highland
 6


 Inverclyde
 1


 Moray
 1


 North Ayrshire
 2


 North Lanarkshire
 2


 Orkney
 1


 Perth and Kinross
 1


 Renfrewshire
 2


 Scottish Borders
 2


 South Ayrshire
 1


 South Lanarkshire
 2


 Stirling
 1


 West Dunbartonshire
 2

Common Agricultural Policy

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering adopting a beef national envelope under Common Agricultural Policy reform proposals.

Ross Finnie: I can confirm that consideration is being given to the introduction of a beef national envelope. Options have been discussed with stakeholders. The Executive hopes to be in a position to make an announcement shortly.

Concessionary Travel

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will extend concessionary travel fares to carers.

Nicol Stephen: The Executive’s commitments in relation to concessionary travel are set out in the partnership agreement and include a national free off-peak bus scheme for older people and people with disabilities and a scheme of national bus, rail and ferry concessionary travel for young people, initially for all in full-time education. We are also committed to carrying out an assessment of improved public transport concessions for people with disabilities.

Harbours

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-8575 by Nicol Stephen on 21 June 2004, which harbour authority has responsibility for the River Nith.

Nicol Stephen: The Nith Navigation Commission is the statutory harbour authority and was established under the Nith Navigation Order Confirmation Act 1929. The commission ceased to operate in the 1960s, although the legislation remains in force. In the absence of an active harbour authority, Dumfries and Galloway Council has assumed responsibility.

Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it will make to the inquiry into the influence of the pharmaceutical industry being carried out by the House of Commons Health Committee.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues, including pharmaceuticals.

  The regulation of medicines is a reserved matter and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The Executive is in regular contact with the agency and information about all aspects of its work can be found at www.mhra.gov.uk

  The Executive would support any initiatives which could lead to patients having access to modern and effective medicines.

Junior Doctors

Bristow Muldoon (Livingston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that the deployment of junior doctors is driven by patient need.

Malcolm Chisholm: The employment of junior doctors, as with all other staff, is a matter for NHS boards and their deployment and numbers are not determined primarily for service delivery reasons. They are training grade posts and as such are designed to provide junior doctors with high-quality training experiences. This will ensure that Scotland produces well trained doctors to deliver safe and effective services, which are appropriate to patients’ needs.

  The commissioning and training of junior doctors to meet known and anticipated patient needs will be further supported through the developing Scottish arrangements to implement the postgraduate medical training reforms set out in the UK policy Modernising Medical Careers.

Police

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much each police force has spent through PFI/PPPs (a) on the refurbishment and replacement of police stations and (b) in total.

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all PFI/PPP projects that there have been in respect of the modernisation of police stations.

Cathy Jamieson: Details of investment in police stations is not held centrally by the Scottish Executive, and is a matter for individual police authorities.

  Information on the Strathclyde Police Training Centre Public Private Partnership project can be found on the Scottish Executive Financial Partnerships Unit’s website at www.scotland.gov.uk/ppp.

Public Sector Staff

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is on whether any public sector employee dismissed for sectarian behaviour should not receive any terminal payment, such as a lump sum payment, in recognition of the unacceptability of such behaviour and whether it requires to amend the contract terms of contracts of employment to secure this objective.

Mr Tavish Scott: The Civil Service Management Code sets out regulations and instructions to departments and agencies regarding the terms and conditions of service of civil servants. The code provides delegated authority to departments and agencies to apply sanctions as result of disciplinary proceedings as they deem appropriate.

  The Scottish Executive has no set tariff of penalties for particular offences and each case is dealt with on its own merits. In cases of gross misconduct the penalty would normally be summary dismissal without notice or any compensatory lump sum payment in lieu of notice.

  As the code does not extend to all public sector employees, the relevant organisations will have their own arrangements in relation to the terms and conditions of service for their employees.

Public Transport

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of bus users use (a) First Group plc, (b) Stagecoach Bus, (c) Arriva and (d) Lothian Buses services.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive obtains some statistics about bus passenger numbers from the Department for Transport's Public Service Vehicle operator annual returns. However, the Executive cannot release figures for individual operators because of an undertaking regarding the confidentiality of the information.

Public Transport

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost would be of providing free local public transport for under-12s.

Nicol Stephen: Reliable estimates of the cost of providing free local public transport for under-12s could not be produced without detailed analysis of bus, rail and ferry usage by under-12s, and discussions with key stakeholders in local transport authorities and the bus, rail and ferry industries.

Public Transport

Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent publicising the Traveline Scotland service in the last financial year and whether this sum is projected to increase in this and future financial years.

Nicol Stephen: £16,000 was spent on publicising Traveline Scotland in 2003-04. A further £240,000 has been made available to spend on the marketing and evaluation of the service until February 2005.

Roads

Mr Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any responsibilities to ensure safety at, or around, level crossings, in particular with regard to public highways, public rights of way and private access tracks and, if so, what measures it is taking to carry out such responsibilities.

Nicol Stephen: The responsibility for safety on the approaches to level crossings on public roads rests with the appropriate roads authority. In the case of trunk roads this falls to the Scottish ministers and for local roads this falls to the relevant local authority.

  The Executive ensures that regular inspections on the trunk road network are undertaken which includes the approaches to level crossings. Any safety issues identified are addressed with appropriate measures. Network Rail also monitors and addresses safety matters at level crossings, working in conjunction with the relevant roads authority where appropriate.

  Recognising the issue of safety, railway lines are excluded from access rights established by Part 1 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. Private access tracks are governed by the terms of the railway legislation which specifies and permits their use. Safe passage at these level crossings is the responsibility of the authorised user.

Roads

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the expenditure per mile was on roads maintenance in each of the last three years, broken down by local authority.

Nicol Stephen: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-7615 on 4 May 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Roads

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether its position in respect of the upgrading of the A96 or any part thereof has changed and whether it will include upgrading of the A96 in any forthcoming announcement of trunk road improvements.

Nicol Stephen: Our position has not changed. We are committed to over £22 million of improvement schemes on the A96, but there are no current plans to upgrade the entire route to dual carriageway.

Roads

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to assume direct responsibility for the cost of maintaining and repairing the Clyde Tunnel.

Nicol Stephen: Responsibility for the Clyde Tunnel rests with Glasgow City Council. The Scottish Executive provides revenue support to local authorities for roads, bridges and tunnels, including the Clyde Tunnel, through the general local government finance settlement. That support is not ring fenced, and it is for each local authority to decide how to allocate its expenditure. There are no current plans to change this arrangement.

Wildlife

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is appropriate to use pens in order to enclose deer prior to shooting them; whether this practice is humane; what evidence it has in respect of the extent to which deer culled in this manner suffer from stress, and how the humaneness of this method of killing deer compares with instant death from a skilled stopper’s bullet.

Ross Finnie: Based on advice on best practice from the State Veterinary Service and the Deer Commission for Scotland, we have no reason to believe that the use of live capture pens to handle wild deer causes undue stress. As with any animal handling system, welfare will largely depend on calm, competent operators.

  The production of guidance on the use of this system will be considered by the steering group charged with developing best practice in deer management.